Regulating an observable M/M/1 queue

Author:

Haviv, Moshe   Oz, Binyamin  

Journal:

Operations Research Letters

Issue Date:

2016

Abstract(summary):

Abstract

Naor (1969) was the first to observe that in observable queues, customers’ joining behavior may not coincide with the socially optimal one. The question then is how to regulate the system such that customers, while minding their own utility, will decide to join only when it is advised by society. After reviewing some existing mechanisms (some involving money transfers and some not), we suggest novel ones that do not involve money transfers and possess some advantages over the existing ones.

Page:

196-198